More on Happiness

This time the nuggets on happiness came from Wolfgang of Metrik Management: http://app.mailworkz.com/email_view.asp?bhjs=1&bhsw=1280&bhsh=800&bhswi=929&bhshi=605&bhflver=5&bhdir=0&bhje=1&bhcold=32&bhrl=-1&bhqt=-1&bhmp=-1&bhab=-1&bhmpex=&bhflex=&bhdirex=&bhcont=lan&group_idno=1221021&outgoing_idno=1221041&email_idno=3000235&bhkbps=96780

(gosh I hope that link stays alive!)

He shares that happy and money are not connected. Puerto Rico is the happiest country in the world, and Mexico is second. Canada is 10th, USA is 16th.

Professor John Helliwell (UBC) says happy in the workplace comes from five things and he relates it to the satisfaction an equivalent income would produce:

1. Trust in the workplace = $115K per year
2. Variety is worth $90K
3. Jobs that require skills = $60K
4. No conflicting demands = $42K
5. Enough time to do the work is valued at a lousy $30K per year

Woflgang goes on... often managers are held hostage by poor performers who threaten with pay raise challenges. Remember they may talk money but that's not what makes the human heart sing, its other issues like the five points above that produce that resistance.

Work on trust, variety, new skills, no conflicts, and enough time to do the work and you'll have the happiest workforce in the world. People in the Caribbean are poor yet they are happier than rich and developed nations. Money doesn't buy happiness anywhere, especially not in the workplace. Compliance and willing cooperation are the direct results of a happy workplace.